Friday, 2 October 2015

Makeup through the decades #3 1940s

Welcome to the 1940s! After sharing with you my recreation of 1920s and 1930s makeup looks, today it's time for another decade. 1940s was a time when the makeup industry was growing, with leading brands like Max Factor, Elisabeth Arden, Maybelline and Helena Rubinstein, and not even II World War could stop women from trying to look glamorous, they were wearing makeup already in their teens which was quite revolutionary.

I love makeup trends from that time, more natural but groomed brows, simple eye look with well defined lashes and red lips. This elegant, feminine look was paired with long hair, either let down or in a stylish up-do.

To recreate the 1940s makeup look I applied my usual foundation (Inglot HD Perfect Coverup) and concealer (Maybelline Instant Eye Eraser) to cover my dark under eye circles and set everything with a powder (L'Oreal True Match) for a flawless but matte complexion.

Contouring was already practised at that time thanks to famous actresses and their makeup artists, so I used lightly my Inglot HD Contour powders to subtly sculpt my cheek bones. For a blush I used ModelCo Cream Blush in the shade 'Just Peachy' to add colour to my face, I applied it with a small stippling brush from the apples of my cheek towards my temples, just like I would usually do. During the War makeup rationing was common in many European countries and more often then not, women used their lipsticks as a blush, blending it with their fingers.

Luckily, the thin, sharp 1930s brows were thing of a past and women in 1940s embraced their natural brows although they still re-defined them with a black or brown pencil accentuating the arch and keeping them in place and looking groomed with a bit of Vaseline on top.
I used Seventeen Brow Pencil to fill in any sparse areas and as I have naturally quite pronounced arch I accentuate it only a bit more then I would normally do.

Eye look was simple yet elegant with a big accent on the upper lashes. Brown eyeshadows were used to accentuate the crease and add depth to the eye socket and light beige, shimmery shades were used on the lids to make the eyes look brighter and bigger. Black eye liner along the lash line was very important for the lashes to appear more voluminous. The bottom lashes were usually left bare.
I used eyeshadows Puppy (in the crease) and Wheat (on the lid) from my Stila Eye Are the Window 'Spirit', applied black eyeliner (Seventeen Lacquer Liner) on the upper lash line, coated my upper lashes with mascara and added false lashes.

Lips were normally bold and red, women were outlining the upper lip for a soft, full, 'kissable' look. Red lipstick was a quintessential of 1940s makeup, just like today, it made women feel instantly glamorous and that's what was needed at this difficult time in the history. Lots of women were working in very un-feminine places, experiencing danger on every day basis but the red lipstick kept their sanity. It's been said that women were encouraged to keep buying lipstick and to send letters to the front covered in ‘lipstick kisses’ to boost the moral of the soldiers.
For my look I outlined my lips using Max Factor Lip Liner in Red Rush and applied on top L'Oreal Color Riche Lipstick in Liya's Pure Red from the matte range.

And here's my recreation of the 1940s makeup look. I have to say that I'm really enjoying playing with wigs, of course just to add character to the overall look :)

Let me know if you enjoyed this post and what do you think of the 1940s makeup trends.

As usual I'm inviting you to join me in the 'makeup through the decades' series :)